Ask ask ask! The Lord keeps reminding me, ASK SPECIFICALLY. He shares with me a message to give to someone, “Stop settling for what you can see, I have more for you than that, but you have to ASK.”

I feel led to send a friend a  picture text with a word of encouragement about her gifting and talents from the Lord. She replies, “Thank you! This is an answer the a very specific prayer.”

At the leading of the Lord, I have been asking Him much more specifically when I am in prayer, and He is answering specifically. I almost feel like He is showing off. =) All kidding aside, this is for us. This grows our faith. Everything He does is because He loves us and has our best in mind. He is always for us!

So, when He first said, ASK SPECIFICALLY, I got a little nervous. I almost felt like I would have more opportunity to be let down. Once I realized I was believing this very sad lie, I started seeking the Lord as to why I initially felt this way. Basically, the root is fear. I was afraid of really believing God for miracles because I didn’t want to give Him the chance to hurt me, let me down, or make me feel really stupid for believing with all of my heart. I begin wondering who else do I have this attitude towards, but that’s a story for a whole other entry! =)

Why are there times when we ask, ask, ask and it seems like none of our prayers are being answered? Or maybe the opposite of what we have asked for is what happens? I believe what the Lord has showed me is how He is God and we are not. There are times when we will have to surrender the need to understand why something happened, or didn’t happen, and recognize that there is a bigger picture and all things will be worked together for our good. It is also important to realize the effect of sin. We do have free will, and so does everyone we love and pray for. There are consequences for sin, and we need to be careful not to blame God when sin is the cause of destruction. He is way bigger than sin, but we have to come to Him, and ask for forgiveness, turn to God and away from sin, be redeemed by the blood, to walk in His Will for our lives.

The next question I had was, “How do I know what to ask for?” There is scripture that deals with asking according to His will. then also, there is the one about delighting myself in Him, and then He will give me the desires of my heart. He is teaching me to ask Him to show me what He is up to, before I begin asking for what I think I want, in any given circumstance. It may go something like this:

Lord Jesus, thank you for so and so. Lord I know you created them fearfully and wonderfully. I know you have a plan and purpose for their life. Lord I know you love them. Would you show me what you see when you look at them? Would you show me your will for their life? Would you teach me how to pray for them? How to love them? What is Heaven’s heartbeat over so and so?

Usually, after I ask this way (and often this prayer is about myself and my circumstances) He totally changes my perspective. Most of the time there is at least a sliver of judgement in my heart, and He totally undoes that by humbling me with His incredible love for each person (including me) that I pray for. There is power in agreement, and this shift in my prayers has allowed me to come into agreement with the Father’s heart. It is when I come from this place, that I do not feel afraid to ask specifically, because I feel confident that whatever He wants for whomever is totally possible.

So today, I want to encourage you to allow Him to upgrade your relationship with Him. Allow Him access to the part of you that you have been saying, “I’m not ready to go there yet.” If He is prompting you, it will be worth it. ASK ASK ASK. Do not be afraid. Find out what His will is, what His perspective is, and come into agreement with His heartbeat. You are about to see specific answers to specific prayers that is going to grow your faith like crazy!

P.S. I wanted to share a bunch of scripture on asking, but felt led to take them off because He was telling me that He wanted you to dig for them. Have fun excavating the truth! There is a treasure to be found for sure!